Ep. 50: Vadge Moore on Punk Rockin' with The Dwarves, Noise Music, & the Occult

On this edition of Parallax Views punk rock legend Vadge Moore, former drummer for The Dwarves, joins the show to discuss his lifelong engagement with primality, taboo, and transgression through his time in the hardcore scene on through to his noise music and writings on occultism and philosophy.

We begins the conversation with Vadge's recollections of the hardcore punk scene and how he became involved with The Dwarves. This includes a discussion of the contrast between the violence of the scene and its brotherhood-esque comradery, the danger and excitement of going to live shows, and the legendary wildness of The Dwarves' live performances.

From there we delve into a number of Vadge's other pursuits and interests starting with transgressive writing. We discuss how Vadge became fascinated with the works of the Marquis de Sade, from whom the term sadism originates, while he was touring with The Dwarves. This leads us into a discussion of Vadge's general interest in extremity and how he became interested in the noise music scene through the work of industrial provocateurs Throbbing Gristle.

This portion of the conversation leads allows us to delve into Vadge's noise project, Chthonic Force. Vadge explains how Chthonic Force was influenced by the work of Carl Jung and how the project reflected Jung's exploration of "The Shadow" and the primordial Id. We discuss some of Chthonic Force's "greatest hits" and what many would consider an unlikely source of inspiration for the project: Vadge's studies of the Bible, specifically the Old Testament.

We then pivot towards Vadge's interest in philosophy, specifically the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Vadge puts special emphasis on the Nietzsche's idea of "The New Man" and how it's played a role in his work. We also discuss the writings of occultist Aleister Crowley and comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell in relation to some of Nietzche's ideas.

We then backtrack a bit into the topic of transgressive fiction with a discussion of Peter Sotos, whose writings deal with sexual psychopathology, and whom Vadge collaborated with on the Chthonic Force track "Mouth Pigs". Vadge explains how he became interested in Sotos' writing and its raw power. After that we delve into Vadge's interest in the occult with special reference to the Gnostic Voudon of Michael Bertiaux, the Gnosticism of William Blake, the Thelemic ideas of Kenneth Grant, and a brief mention rocket science's (in)famous occultist Jack Parsons and the resurgence of interest in him due to the CBS TV series Strange Angel.

We wrap-up the show with Vadge talking about the new anthology The Servants of the Star and Snake: Essays in Honor of Kenneth & Steffi Grant, which Vadge is included in. The conversation ends with Vadge giving some words of wisdom to people who are just becoming interested in the occult.

CHECK OUT THE SERVANTS OF THE STAR AND SNAKE: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF KENNETH & STEFFI GRANT FEATURING A PIECE BY VADGE MOORE